When is India going to get past the obsession of "cracking" the JEE/AIEEE/<insert one of countless engineering entrance exams here>?

Most of the students who are writing these exams are writing it because of peer and/or parental pressure. It sickens me to see that most of these students are not passionate about what they're learning. Don't get me wrong. The students who do really well on these exams *are* passionate about learning the stuff for the sake of learning. But such students are too few and far in between.
I see students saying "Oh, you don't have to know how that works because that's not tested on the JEE. Forget about it." and they go back to mindless memorization of random facts (and these random facts end up in the IIT prep books because they were previously asked on the JEE). Everybody wants to be an engineer. EVERYBODY. I am the only one in my class (of over 80 students) to have chosen a major other than engineering. I would say that about 50% of my class was genuinely uninterested in engineering but ended up choosing engineering out of sheer pressure.
This ends up producing poor engineers.
Poor engineers--->unexploited youth/wasted workforce--->damage to the economy.
Is the day gonna come when Indian parents grow up and realize this simple truth? I was optimistic before, but now, not so much.

Being an engineer is not a bad thing.But only if you have passion for that.Now a days the kids are going to engineering field due to pure parental pressure.This causes lack of quality in that field.And the craze for IITs...Most of the people writing it go for it only for the sake of cracking it.Rote memorization,mugging and shortcuts to solve problems.They never understand the beauty of Physics Chem and Math.All they do is do many problems without knowing the underlying concepts.Knowingly or unknowingly the coaching concept gave manure for this.They where meant to increase speed and accuracy of students.But now students passed out from 10th are dumped straight into coaching centers without really asking about their ambition.This is the prime reason why Indians fall behind other countries like USA in many fields.WHERE IS OUR BRILLIANT STUDENTS?

i have a fact to share that in AIEEE last yr 2 lac students got -ve no and this a proof that
engineering in INDIA is becoming a factory of producing dumb machines
actually parents consider engineering as a PLATFORM
but they don"t understand that after this there situation will be like PLATFORM BEGGARS
with no engineering aptitude
so i would say that those who love this subject should opt for it and passionately work hard for it

@krishnadas
i dont think that innovatively finding out shortcuts and tricks dosen't let us to explore beauty of the subject rather i think that it brings us more closer to the subject ,i often look for shortcuts and analytical approach for a problem as i do not like calculations
and i passionately love my coaching

and u will think i am mad i do have an alternative but first of all reasons
1 iit if wants student on marks basis should define a proper guidelines for its syllabus
2 iits should have their own official coaching or study materials (this is solution to stop coaching from seeding everywhere)

Also if we see logically iits are good in quantity ( they have big city like area) and less in quality (professors are too old to teach u r being taught by pg students) then students say iit is best uni of nation.....................lol what an irony

Pretty good @Meinme ..That's some excellent thinking.But I think IITs should bring back those subjective type questions which gives maximum marks to the thinking.This objective questions are really the reason for the victory of coaching centers.They spoonfeed answers to students and they become RETARDED

Rajath, you are exactly like me. I love your though process right there.
I have experienced semantic satiation with words like "excellence" and "concepts" — they are used too much for things they must not be used... like MS Excel.
Making your kid study for engineering or medicine just because you think he doesn't have an occupation he is interested in . . . while he has his own dreams? That is silly!

@Krishnadas I don't know, I have applied to go to FIITJEE and I am actually excited to go there.
Ideally, I want to go to FIITJEE because I'd learn new things and I like to learn them. (honestly!)
My Dad is also with me on my decision, but he is kinda forcing me to go there. I have no problem except for one: he wants me to go to FIITJEE to get full marks, nothing else.
I think of full marks as just a byproduct of interest :-)

i have a strong grudge with all those who dont respect iit
an institute becomes good by the passionate,energetic,hardworking youths and
we have no right to blame any college is u do so then suggest with an alternative of feasible cost. IIT is the best Institute of India and coaching are bet place to learn school are no where in front of it in concepts and knowledge at least for my coaching it is true
or if schools can afford such teachers,profs,then it is equivalently good i have no problem with schooling but have have serious problems with our schooling and system of secondary education
and i want 12 th board to be objective too
or if they conduct subjective exam then they should be of good level

just adding in :we should win the examination rather than trying to defeat the examination system .Cracking ,smashing ,and every kind of words is a sign of trying to defeat a particular system by doing thousands of problems based on previous exam question pattern and stuff .Winning the exam is an act of trying to be thorough with basics and having the confidence to face whatever test you are put up on -be it subjective o objective or any other testing metod ...
As our Baba Ranchordas says "Chase excellence ,success will follow you ! :) "

@rajathsbhat exactly, but in india it is so that middle class scenarios and ambitious peers do not let you get out of the misery and engineering is one course after which switching careers, posts, profiles and scenarios becomes easier.

In my opinion - Education is Personal; Qualifications Professional.
I'll "acquire" whatever degree(s) is/are required to get a decent job. After that whether or not I continue with a subject depends on my experience with the subject.
As for the coaching centers; they exist because public schools cannot hire IITians (for obvious reasons) and government is contented with their mid-day meal program (again for obvious reasons). Not to mention the fact that there are less than 50% seats in "Open Category".
Now for the "immoral studying habits", if "cracking" an exam is a matter of life and death for you, would you prefer to stay on a higher moral ground and follow some hollow ideologies or will you get down to reality and "do whatever it takes" ?
Apparently everyone got their freewill...